Footsure Western Ltd.

Stamping Out The Gender Imbalance

Top UK protective footwear label, Amblers Safety, has released photographs of this year’s Miss England bronze winner, wearing her own line of steel toe capped shoes!

The brand are backing the #notjustforboys social media campaign set by GOV.UK which raises awareness of the growing opportunities for women in the UK, encouraging more of them into underrepresented professions. By challenging society’s perception of construction, women will gradually become more interested in entering male-dominated sectors.

Sophie Lydia Smith, of Gloucestershire, England, is an admirable example of how women can flourish in the building and construction worlds. This year, Sophie has been using her position as a top contestant in the beauty queen finals (Miss England) to inspire more women to pursue a career in construction.

The construction industry has been due a rebrand for a while. Amblers Safety has teamed up with the 25 year-old role-model to ensure that women, as well as men, are seen as the face of the building and construction trades. The new photographs show our nation’s Miss England finalist, proudly wearing the new “Sophie” style, and more importantly, in situ!

Many safety footwear brands and companies alike give preference to unisex size ranges, with economics ruling over appearance and more importantly comfort. The current “one-size-fits-all” approach to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) across the industry is not one taken by Amblers Safety. They’re embracing the need for women’s safety shoes and are building a range specifically for this growing market. These new styles meet the Amblers Safety philosophy of ‘tough, working, comfort’, whilst remaining affordable for the everyday worker.

Sophie Smith says, 'I am very passionate about making the construction industry as accommodating to women as possible as we represent only 11%. I believe that by bringing out female friendly safety shoes we can take another step further to achieving the objective of closing the gender gap. The shoes not only comply with the safety features but they are stylish, comfortable and can be worn in the office as well as on site!'

The innovative design meets the stringent health and safety requirements as set out by the Personal Protective Equipment Directive (89/686/EEC) and will be shown internationally to workwear retailers at Europe’s largest information discussion forum for Health and Safety at work, A+A International Trade Fair held in Dusseldorf, Germany on 27th-30th October 2015. Footsure Western Ltd, one of UK’s leading footwear wholesale groups, will be launching the design to the European market in February 2016.

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